Second-year surge: Georgia OLB Darris Smith
The summer is here and Kirby Smart’s eighth Georgia football team is putting in a lot of work behind closed doors. The entire 2023 class has arrived on campus and the Bulldogs are marching toward history.
A third consecutive National Championship, in the modern era, is unprecedented. But so was a back-to-back titles in the playoff era. In order for Georgia to stay on top of the mountain, it’ll have to rely on some players heading into their second season.
With that in mind, DawgsHQ is rolling out a series where we look at every scholarship player who is entering year two. Next up is an extremely athletic EDGE player who’ll wear a lot of hats.
OLB Darris Smith
Size: 6-foot-5, 225-pounds
On3 Industry Ranking: No. 117 overall, No. 12 EDGE, and No. 11 in Georgia.
2022 Stats: Smith played in 10 of Georgia’s 15 games during the 2022 season. He had four total tackles on the year.
Smith strengths and weaknesses…
The Appling County High School product has the ideal body type for a versatile edge player. He has the length and frame to do a bunch of different things from his outside linebacker position. His speed and quickness have also allowed the Georgia coaching staff to move him around some, working him at the STAR/nickel position.
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In fact, Smith’s overall athletic skillset can be described as freakish. He has great straight line speed and changes direction really well. Smith has a quick, powerful first step. As far as weaknesses go, he has to get stronger and more physical. He was considered more of a role player at the end of spring drills because he’s not quite ready to strike blockers on early downs. Smith might be able to play off the ball as a SAM linebacker on first and second down, but he’s not quite ready to deal with offensive tackles.
The Buzz…
Smith had a really good spring. He showed some serious flashes both in space and as a pass rusher. When the G-Day game rolled around, Smith was a fixture in the third down package because he can cover a lot of ground and he’s comfortable in space. There was an instance in the spring game where was asked to cover Brock Bowers one-on-one. Bowers won that matchup, as expected, but Smith was more effective than most would expect.
In 2023…
This guy is going to be on the football field and in some big situations. Right now he’s more effective as a blitzer than he is a pure edge rusher but Bulldog fans should be excited about the doors Smith opens with his skillset. He reminds us of Leonard Floyd because he can move around and do so many different things. Expect to see him spying quarterbacks, blitzing from numerous angles, and dropping into zones where he can rob routes and make plays.
